Someone Who Seriously Cares
by TheWhimsicalSpy
Summary: A first  and possibly only  fic.  It's a story filled with sadness and anger, and some emo-mongering by Coop, all leading him to finding comfort in someone you should expect by now.
1. Someone Who Seriously Cares, Part 1

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

FZHT FZHT KRESMASH FwaSH! Ck Crck CRONG~

Electric wiring quickly converted into electrifying nunchuks blowing up a couch, missing their target, and swinging around onto a houseplant, thus stopping its user long enough to be hit by a kid wielding the metal sill from one of two broken windows.

All on a fine Saturday morning, at that.

**"COOOOOOP!"**

The call of the father of the Burtonburger family had become something mainstream in the boy's life now. He hadn't gone a day without hearing it since his attacker had moved in with them.

"I keep telling you not to annoy the cat! You cause destruction wherever you go! Besides, how can simpy 'annoying' the Cat cause so much destruction?"

Coop had started to become slightly pessimistic at how his father never questioned how his little feud with the evil extraterrestrial had gone on for so long. He mouthed his fathers nagging with his mouth and right hand.

"Millie and I haven't even left the house yet!"

"Yeah! You always ruin everything for me! _And_ Mr. Kat!"

Millie entered the partially ruined kitchen with the stove falling to pieces just as she had managed to walk past it. The main difference today was that she was wearing a dress overly adorned with expensive jewelry that was most likely… not plastic.

"Why do you have to hurt Mr. Kat?"

"Because he's the one causing trouble!... as usual," said Coop, in a tone indicating that he no longer found the two believing him even a slight possibility.

"You know what- Forget it, Coop," said Burt. "Your sister and I are going to attend the Greeny Girl Beauty Pageant. Hopefully your sister will win LEGITIMATELY this year?..."

"What they don't know won't hurt them... _**RIGHT, DADDY?**_" In Millie's tone of Speech on those last couple words, it could obviously be seen that there was something sinister going on in that round head of hers.

"Guh… yes, sweetie. Now, Coop, I don't want to see any more damage in the house today. And if you absolutely have to torture Mister Kat, which I _know_ you don't… please try to keep it outside."

A small, evil, and felinesque bunch of giggles came from outside, behind a mound of dirt that had built up from the fowl creature being hit across the yard. The shadow it belonged to snuck into the storage shed.

"…. At least maybe then the nice taxpayers will be able to fix the damages.

"Now, we should leave before Coop somehow inadvertently ruins your dress, pumpkin." Burt and Millie left the kitchen, the entrance of which collapsed behind them the moment after.

… From another entrance, Burt's head popped in once again.

"By the way, are you wearing PURPLE?"

"It's an old shirt. I haven't worn it in a while. What do you think?"

"It's gives off a certain feel of nostalgia, like… Like it was your original design or something, and your usual shirt now is your final depiction, or something like that…?"

"Um… okay?"

A short, awkward silence.

"Well, I'll be off, sport."

And, awkwardly, Burt left.

"... Darn Kat... Destroy _my_ clothes, will he?..."

The shed exploded from a pillar of harmful and, presumably, radioactive energy. The purple, pasty monster emerged from the slowly sinking dust cloud amid the falling wood. Adjusting some new add-ons to a makeshift collar, he approached Coop with his classic grin…

-...-

On a short trip back in the car, Burt talked to Millie about the pageant that, in the third year in a row, Millie 'might' have cheated in.

"Well, Millie, I can't say I approve of your actions at the Pageant this year either. Was that one girl's hair on fire at some point? Her ends looked… blackened."

"Me? No, I'd never do something like that… **_RIGHT, DADDY?"_**

One could swear they could see a black and red aura emanating from Millie's head.

"GUAGH!... Of… of course not, my little angel!"

"Right answer, daddy!" Millie turned away as if her outburst had never occurred.

Upon turning into the driveway, Burt was pleased to see his house intact for once.

"Ah, finally! It seems that Coop has finally heeded my advice and did _not_ start up anything with the cat! There's not a scratch visible on the outside!

"… Visible… on the outside… Oh no."

The household leader ran inside. Despite knowing the inevitable, he could only barely brace himself.

Burt gasped. The carpet was spread and ripped. Furniture that was not knocked over was smashed or slashed in half. In fact, there were numerous wide slits in the walls. The railing on the stairs was all but… actually, it was completely gone. So were a majority of the stairs.

In fact, it looked as though a giant creature had dragged itself- no, shredded itself through the walls with sheer force… all over the top and ground level floors.

No one has ever been able to, currently is able to, or ever will be able to contain the scream produced by the head of the household in that single point in time in mere text.

**"COOP! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"**

"I can vouch for Coop!"

Dennis Lu, Coop's best friend and neighbor, was hanging by his shirt from a light fixture on the ceiling.

"Hello, Mr. B," he said as he waved his hand lightly.

"What in- where's Coop?"

"He's in the kitchen, Mr. B."

Green light irradiated from the aforementioned room, forming from a strange, unpredictable discharge. From it, Kat frolicked across the ruined floor and rubbed up against Millie's legs, as usual.

"Mr. Kat! You're alright!"

What was not usual, however, was that Coop was dragging himself out from behind the kitchen counter, covered in severe scratches and nervous sweat. As if to top it all off, Coop also had a bloody nose.

"Ew, Gross!" said Millie.

"Coop! What happened here?"

Coop finally hit a resting position in which his face was rested on the remains of the carpet, and lifted a single finger.

"It was… you know what, I'm not even gonna bother." The young hero put down his finger.

"It's like a tornado filled with vicious animals ran through here!"

The cat made a small mew.

"It could never have been Mr. Kat," said Millie, hugging the abomination. "He's too gentle and sweet to do all this!"

Instantly to contradict this, Kat let out an evil giggle targeted at Coop. To his displeasure, Coop could not receive his malicious message, due to losing consciousness.

"Actually, maybe it was the cat…"

Millie let out a gasp in surprise. Coop was unconscious, obviously not making a gasp of the same variety. Kat also looked a bit shocked.

"But Daddy! Mr. Kat's not evil! He's a good kitty!"

"Well, pumpkin, I'm not sure. I mean, I don't think a small scuffle could have possibly escalated into something **_this_** violent," he said as he gestured to the entirety of the house. "It had to be done with weapons of mass destruction, or something… **alien**…" Burt said in a suspicious manner, staring at Kat with squinted eyes.

Kat was nervous now. Perhaps he had gone too far this time!

Clearly, something in Millie's psyche snapped. Her eyes popped out a bit. Her mouth opened wide, revealing teeth besides her two front incisors, and she screamed. Not only was it heard by the neighborhood, but it could be heard from several miles out of town.

_**"IT'S NOT MR. KAT! IT'S COOP! IT'S ALWAYS COOP! MR. KAT IS NOT A CATNIPIAN, OR TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD! AND DON'T ASK ME HOW I'D THINK THAT! JUST BACK OFF, BUDDY!"**_

"… But p-p-pumpkin, how would it occur to you that-"

_**"I SAID DON'T ASK! Now make Coop do some chores for punishment or something, OR ELSE!"**_

"All right! Just calm down… calm down."

"Thank you, Daddy!"

Although she calmed down, she stomped out of the room with Kat in her arms, who was hoping that he would regain his hearing in his lifetime.

"Unh! What was that noise? What happened?" Coop's state of unconsciousness had surprising endurance.

"You missed most of Millie's screaming while you were out. That's probably a world record!... somewhere." said Dennis, contradicting his statement nervously. The remaining thread that held him snapped, dropping him to the floor. Burt walked up to Dennis with a stern look and crossed arms.

"Sorry, Dennis, but playtime's over. Coop and I have some cleanup to do."

"Sorry, Coop, I gotta go anyway. I think my pelvis might be fractured. Bye." And with that, Dennis left, giving a small whine of pain every time he took a step from his left. When the limping pal of Coop's had left the visual vicinity, Burt spoke up.

"Well, Coop, I don't see how you could possibly fix all this damage. I'm thinking about getting some professional help."

"A psychiatrist?"

"No, construction workers actually, _but_… that may also prove fruitful sometime soon."

Kat laughed a bit in the background, predictably plotting to convince the psychiatrist that Coop should be thrown into the insane ward.

"No! Don't send me there! Kat's evil! Really!"

"I'm sorry, Coop, but I don't believe you."

"But… the house!..."

"(It's not like I have a choice, after all…)"

"What?"

"Just… I don't know, get the mail or something!"

Then Mr. Burtonburger left the room, mumbling something with the words "Millie" and "Possessed" in the same sentence, leaving Coop in the wake of Kat's destruction.

Coop himself looked around for a while to fully comprehend what had happened. Kat had actually mauled the living room, as he had first seen, tore the stairs as he had chased him up, destroyed the contents of his room while he was hiding in the closet, and toyed with him in the kitchen. Millie and Burt burst in at this point, thankfully preventing Kat from finishing him off.

It now seemed that Kat didn't mind mutating himself a bit to make life harder for Coop.

"(Kaaat!... I'll get you for this… someday…)"

Coop walked across the street, picked up a softball bat lying outside from the partially spared garage, of which only a mere box of knick knacks had been destroyed, and headed for the mailbox. As he walked across the street, he noticed something slinking into the bushes. Well, at least this time, he was ready… and armed.

Coop opened the mailbox, pretending that he was off guard. He began to sort through the mail to further the illusion that he hadn't caught sight of his so-called "predator..."

"Damage bill, damage bill, Greeny Girl catalog, Lobster Lad invite, Junk from Lorn and Harley…" and then, a black envelope within a fitting, clear plastic folder.

A black envelope? In a clear plastic folder?

It was addressed to the whole family, but the return address came from Hollywood.

Coop went up to the end of the driveway and sat down. His dad usually handled the mail, but something about this particular letter drew him in.

The envelope was indeed black, but the seal was very intricate, looking like a red rose. It was undoubtedly handmade. The stamp contained a picture of a certain woman that he vaguely remembered from the early parts in his life. The letter was also embroidered with whimsical red linings. The letter sort of gave off some sort of "femme fatale" look. It was a work of art.

Coop opened the letter carefully. The glue simply separated in several soft crackles, not putting up any sign of a struggle, and opened without creating a single crease in the paper. The handwriting on it was also handwritten.

The text confused him at first. He barely knew who this woman was, but he had always wanted to meet her. Now that he thought about it, she was a major part of his life.

Then, after his eyes crossed back and forth across the paper a few times, his lungs seemed to feel as if they were being pulled down by a giant, lead sphere on a chain.

From the bushes, Kat plotted briefly to pounce on Coop. He decided to torture the boy even more and make the day even more swell, and his face a bit more swollen. Maybe he would have a mental breakdown, Kat thought to himself with pleasure.

Kat leapt from the bushes and dove toward Coop like one would into a pool, intent on creating a dust cloud with Coop from their fighting.

Instead, he found something much more furious, and, ultimately, wrathful. Something that would make him regret pushing Coop today.

"You never know when to quit, do you? You Deceiving-!"

KONK

"UGLY-!"

KINK

"FURLESS FREAK!"

KRICK!

Kat's body hit the ground with what could have been a comedic squishing sound. At first, he was still, lying on the ground with a shocked expression. Then he shook and moaned. Painfully.

He lifted himself up partially, with his front legs, and looked back toward his leg. It was indented and bent from the last blow from the metal bat. Trying to get up, his body convulsed and shook, almost like one of his machines that was failing and about to explode. His leg didn't even look natural now; some of the inner workings could be seen beating inside his body.

He looked up at Coop with an expression of confusion and fear, as if to question the thought of how it had escalated to this level of violence. Coop himself still had his brow slightly furrowed in anger, but the angle became more and more obtuse as he made eye contact with the animal he had struck down.

Still moaning, he looked to and from Coop and his broken leg, trying to fit the pieces together, yet failing to do so.

Confused and horrified at what he had done, the Kid ran away from the wounded alien and into the house, intent on hiding the bat to conceal the crime he had just committed. Kat just sat there, as if he were zinged. His face then shown real anger, one not seen before, one seemingly thinking it was justified in whatever it would do next.

No longer was this the colorful world of Kid versus Kat it had just been minutes before, but a confusing world Coop didn't know how to deal with.


	2. Someone Who Seriously Cares, Part 2

Dinner was quiet tonight. At least, from Coop's point of view. His dad and his sister blabbered away about unnecessary things that he didn't really care about.

Everything was different. It felt wrong. It felt like something that was never there before was only now missing from his life. ...Was this what puberty felt like?

Coop dove deeper into thought before briefly resurfacing to listen to what his family was talking about.

"What are you going to bring to the slumber party, Millie?"

"Oh, not much… just the basic stuff. Like this TIARA I WON TODAY!"

Millie held up the tiara she had won at the beauty pageant today.

Nope. Nothing worth listening to.

The little things in life seem unnecessary and unimportant compared to the discovery he had made a few hours before.

"Coop… you feeling all right?" Coop's father showed some sympathy, noticing Coop's depression.

"Yes, dad. I'm fine."

"Well, you don't really seem like being at the table with us today."

"'M fine… really."

"Well, I can't really blame you. The construction workers won't be here until tomorrow."

"Over the mess you caused!" said Millie.

Coop slammed his hands the table and glared at Millie. More pieces of what was the kitchen fell down and smashed into even more pieces, adding something unknown to the air.

"You know what? I've had it. I'm going up to what's left of my bed. I'm not hungry."

"Coop, come o-"

Coop left the dining room and climbed up the remains of the rail. It was hard to avoid the splinters of wood present. He had already received some splinters in his arms, legs and hands from the trip up past.

"By the way, Daddy, have you seen Kat? I left him alone in my room a few hours ago, but when I came back, he was gone! And I haven't seen him since!"

Then again, what did splinters matter? A little more pain wouldn't make a difference, he thought.

As if to question that notion, he was tackled by an angry ball of purple.

The thing seemed to fight Coop with a vengeance today. Obviously Coop's recent hit-and-run had sent Kat over the edge, and there was no sign of the lame leg slowing him down now. There were signs of artificial healing. Not unexpected of Kat.

But for what could have been a struggle, it was only a beating. He let Kat wail on him. He didn't feel like fighting back now. Flying claws, flying hair, all while the room spun around him.

He thought about the news he had received.. He thought about Kat's confused expression when he had broken his leg. He felt guilt. He felt sadness. He didn't want to add to the conflict anymore.

All he wanted right now was peace.

Almost as soon as he thought it would go on forever, the beating slowed down to only a few scratches per second. Then they weren't even severe anymore. Eventually, as he stood on and above Coop, Kat held one claw in the air, shaking for just a second, Kat's foreign eyes not looking into his. He then left Coop's visual range.

When Coop looked up again, Kat wasn't there anymore. He sighed, picked himself up like any normal person being would and went to the bathroom to put on some disinfectant and bandages.

Kat was not truly done, though. Waiting under the bed in Millie's room, he plotted against his prey. He still had to pay him back for the atrocious crime he had committed: physically harming him! If Coop was going to heighten the stakes and the harm, then so would he! Letting him go for just being a little down was only to get him to lower his guard, he conjectured...

Still, Kat had never seen the human shut down like that before...

Kat convinced himself that the human was plotting something. The conniving feline decided it would be better if he waited until nightfall to mount an attack and nip it in the bud.

He snuck off into the shed in the backyard as he usually would, behind the bushes in the faded twilight of the day. Clouds were forming above the city. Most likely a storm. One wouldn't think that such clouds could form on a night like this unless the so-called protagonist was about to die. Kat made a small mental note of this, using it to spur his actions on, and began his work. Strange lights and sounds could be heard from inside the shack that night...

-...-

Hours later, when it was fully dark outside, Kat finally reemerged with a new collar around his neck capable of all sorts of things… features including lasers, psychokinetic manipulation, ice waves, and even a flamethrower, all fit in using size modified portal technology. It even included some of his past inventions, with some tweaks. He thought it could even be superior to the collar he had arrived on Earth with!

Kat wandered into the house as usual, when he wanted to sneak up on Coop. He came in through the slightly open sliding door in the kitchen, despite the windows not being intact. He then saw his prey in his pajamas at the front door, along with his only current accomplice. Perhaps he could find something to throw back into their faces sometime in the middle of the night…

Dennis' face conveyed shock and horror, assumedly from something Coop had told him. Coop's face was turned away from Kat.

"Wow, man. I didn't know. That's… some really awful news to get in the mail."

"It's not your fault… you didn't know."

"Well, how did your Dad and Millie react?"

"I… I haven't told them anything about it yet."

"W-W-Why? This is a major change in all of your lives! You can't just NOT tell them what happened to her!"

Kat thought about exposing whatever Coop had hidden and humiliate him with whatever he found out… before he destroyed him.

"No… I still can't…" Coop lowered his head. "They'll just panic when they're told… they're too happy. They won't deal with it right."

Kat secretly expressed even greater curiosity over what he was talking about. It was as if his target was specifically trying not to utter what was so terrible in his little world right now, as though he already knew Kat was hiding in the room somewhere, he thought.

Dennis just stayed quiet for a moment and scratched the back of his head. Perhaps he was pondering what could possibly be the 'right' thing to say in whatever situation he had just encountered.

"Talk about being negative… I honestly don't really know what you should do. In fact, it even seems likely what you think would happen, well... would happen. But I think you should tell them about it."

"I can't do that, Dennis."

"You have to, Coop. It's the only thing you can do at this point. There may actually take thing ser-"

"Goodbye, Dennis." Coop slowly closed the door on his friend in this situation, to Dennis' astonishment.

"Wait!" Dennis had noticed Kat watching from inside. "What about-" the door shut in his face before he could point out Coop's worst enemy. Kat did a little dance in satisfaction over Coop's self-destructive behavior.

In addition, at this point, it began to rain with Dennis outside. He clasped his little hands and made a giant smile in his direction, watching Coop's only chance of survival being forced to run all the way home like a little bunny and wait throughout the horrible events that would take place that night.

Still out of sight, Kat watched as his enemy tiredly walked on both hand and foot just to get to the second as Coop had finally turned the corner to get into his room, Kat began to creep up the remainder of the stairs, when-

BDAOOOM…

A flash of light. Darkness followed.

"COOOOOOOOP!"

"It wasn't me, dad! I think it's a blackout!"

The family gathered in the broken living room with flashlights. The house now gave an unwelcome aura, looking as though the disaster that had happened just this morning looked like an ancient instance that had been a mystery for decades.

"Daddy, is our house haunted now?"

"No it's not, Millie. It's just a blackout. It seems as though several whole blocks are out tonight."

"Will there still be electricity at the sleepover, Daddy?"

"… Of course, pumpkin."

"Yay! Let me get dressed!" Millie rushed up the stairs to her room.

Wait a minute... There were no stairs! How she was able to get up the nonexistent steps boggled all three of the other household members minds.

"I'm just going to bed…" Coop simply slinked off to his room, presumably.

"DADDY! I NEED LIGHT! NOW!" More excruciating screeching from the spoiled little girl.

"Coming, child of mine…" Mr. Burtonburger grumbled under his voice things Kat most likely did not want to hear.


	3. Someone Who Seriously Cares, Part 3

As he made it himself to the top floor, Kat began to ponder upon what method of elimination he should use on his longtime enemy. Decapitation? Burning? Pummeling? Even he was a little scared at how morbidly horrific his own thoughts were…

As he approached Coop's room, he slowly turned the knob with ultimately sharpened claws…

"Mr. Kat! There you are!" Kat jumped from shock straight into Coop's barely intact door, crashing his face through it. His head smashed the whole way through. To make matters worse, the door flew open from the kinetic energy of the jump, forcing his face into the wall the door was not supposed to collide with.

This house needed more doorstoppers…

The rebound allowed Kat to take a good look around the room, revealing it was nothing like it was this morning. As the pasty imp had expected, the son of the Burtonburger family was lying in his bed, but the destroyed legs of the bottom bunkless bunk bed had been removed in his absence, most likely for reconstruction, making the boy near eye level. Yet, upon looking around the room once more, all of the space in the room was now ultimately apparent with nearly everything destroyed in the one-sided battle that morning, including most of the usual toys and furniture.

What was disturbing was that this new look oddly reflected its owner's current facade.

And then, to further to disturb Kat, Coop was up in bed, sadly staring at him. The poor lighting made his face slightly unclear. He asked a question:

"Are you all right?"

Mr. Kat uttered a small, high-pitched "Mow?" in surprise.

"Mr. Kat, be more careful! You shouldn't be so jumpy around me!"

Millie was in yet another stunning dress, this one only slightly less glamorous than the one before it. It was the same, just less of everything. Less jewelry, less shine, less silk, etcetera.

"This was my backup dress for the pageant from this morning. Don't I look great? I'm wearing this to prove that none of the other girls ever stood a chance!"

Kat groaned with impatience in conjunction to a pleased face, barely making an effort in passing himself off as happy to see her.

The Greeny Girl grabbed the kitty in her usual, painful hug and entered her brother's room.

"Coooooop! You've been boring and sad all day. It's probably some dumb boy thing you're going through, so why don't you have Mr. Kat stay with you to help you through the night? He might think of something! I mean, I'd take him to the sleepover, but there aren't supposed to be any cats!"

Why did she even bother asking? She should have known it would never work.

"… Sure. Why not."

Kat was surprised, letting out another small "Mow?" in response.

"Okay! Just remember to hold Kat tight so he doesn't get away! Also, make sure to WHAAAAAAAAT?"

Millie almost took a spit take. Except she had no water to spit out, the result instead being some annoying droplets of spit. Most of them landed on Kat's head.

"Millie, are you coming? You're going to be late for your sleepover!" Burt was calling her from downstairs, by the front door.

"(I just want to get this over with…)" Burt cried a bit under his breath, making sure his daughter couldn't hear him.

"Gee Coop, you must have broken your brain earlier when torturing Mr. Kat! Oh well, can't be helped, take him and make sure he doesn't **ESCAPE.**"

She threw Kat at Coop's body, making both of them wince upon impact. She frolicked down the stairs and zoomed out the front door to get into the car.

"Pumpkin, wait for me! NO! You can't drive, you don't have a license!..."

The car slammed shut, zoomed out of the driveway, and sped off, the screeching of the wheels slowly integrating with pounding of the rain on the roof. A lone "STOP, MILLIE!" was the only noise indicating life outside the house.

Kat giggled evilly to himself. He finally had his nemesis exactly where he wanted him. He was sure he could overcome whatever his mortal enemy had in store for him! He would undoubtedly finally win.

That was why Kat was bewildered when Coop extended his arms around his middle. It was something like how an innocent child would hold a teddy bear, even though Kat was specifically facing away from the boy. The grasp was gentle and caring, as though it were holding something fragile and alive, completely unlike Coop's earlier attitude towards Kat. This strange move further confused him.

Oh, yet, the irony! He was holding something far more dangerous than he ever had before. He may as well have been holding a bomb!

"You know, earlier… when you were fighting me… you stopped when I gave up."

Kat was wondering what his rival was up to. It would not sway Kat, and it could not save him from the his wrath. After all, Kat's display was just a ploy One that was working!

"And it got me thinking… maybe you'd listen to me. Maybe you would get everything. Maybe you'd understand… somehow."

Kat wondered when he was finally going to be done with this charade.

"Practically everyone I know in this city is stupid. Sometime even Dennis. Sometimes, even me. It's like it's some cycle that's just meant to entertain someone… It's like a cartoon."

Kat laughed a little. In all fairness, he himself had noticed how humorously idiotic everyone in Bootsville had been ever since his arrival.

But was this going to be some sort of honeyed up apology? Kat frowned again and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Everyone just goes about their lives here. But they do it ridiculously. Like, if something out of the ordinary occurs, they just go back to what they were doing. Is that natural? Is that even really human… at all?..."

Kat moaned with boredom. What was he getting at? Was he going to ask for something? Kat sneered a bit at what he was trying to do. It didn't matter anyway.

Perhaps he should destroy him at the end of whatever he was doing. It would supply him much pleasure to see the fear in Coop's eyes at his closing.

"Suppose something actually happened. Something that they would have no choice but to take seriously? Something that would affect them for the rest of their lives?"

"_Mrow?..._"

It seemed as though he was actually getting to what he had been hiding so desperately earlier. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage later? Maybe he should wait until morning, and find that black envelope! Maybe Burt would be angry at Coop for whatever he had hidden, and send him to his room, like so many times before! Where he would be waiting… to finish him off.

Kat had been happily waiting for more while he had been fantasizing about future plans in his future victim's embrace. The feeling fleeted a bit while the confessor seemed to prepare for what he would say next.

"I always wanted to meet my mother, you know..."

At first, Kat was baffled by what Coop had just said. What was he talking about? What about his...?

Kat's eyes widened.

"She left when Millie and I were really little. I remember being told that she left my dad because he was too 'happy.' He didn't notice some things he should have. To her, everyone in Bootsville was like that. Nothing ever really changed...

Kat began to shift his eyes around nervously. Why did Coop want him to listen to this pity party? He sort of wished to leave. The damage was done, no harm, no foul, he started something at a bad time. His eyes darted to and forth, looking for an opportunity to escape.

Yet _something_ kept him from leaving. To see him break down? No, that wasn't it…

"She left Bootsville, and I now know why. When I thought about it, I noticed that when people in this town see something different here that isn't convenient, they look away and expect the boring things in life. I can't tell Dad and Millie about it… they'll just panic. Millie would just wail. There won't be a single moment of silence to mom's name.

"But that's not all. They don't look for anything they don't expect out of the ordinary. It's like they've forgotten how to see."

How negative.

Kat himself had shown such ignorance in his life, he guessed, but that was natural to any sentient species, including his own. Negative, but ultimately truthful.

"That's why that, really… you're actually the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Kat's eyes widened even further than he thought possible. What was he leading to?... It certainly seemed heartfelt…

"You make life exciting. Do you know how much 'catch' we played before you got here? … _I don't even remember,_ but it was a lot more. I spend more time with you than anybody else. Even if we do fight…"

He couldn't really be thinking this, Kat thought. Sure, this was a tender phase in his life, but why was Coop now appealing to him? Kat now shifted uncomfortably at the praise he was now receiving from the mouth that would normally spew angry nothings at him. It was almost as if he wanted the old, abrasive Coop back now.

"You're not really stupid. You're always thinking. You're different. Even if you do act a bit evil."

To Kat, it just seemed like Coop was breaking down. These were words of amiable kindness, but they had a hidden sadness to them as well. Kat then realized he was now trying to avoid the subject of sadness he began with...

"But I do see you when you're good. Like when you've saved Millie. You care about her, don't you? You can care, and you do. That's nice…

"It's just that, sometimes, when you act so friendly to her, but then hiss at me behind her back... I just realized today that I'm jealous, you know? I just really wish that you were my friend too, sometimes…"

This brought up something new and previously impossible to Kat. Such a thought had never occurred to him, having someone around that wouldn't only consider him a household pet. On the rare occasion they teamed up, they worked well together… Coop was resourceful, and a good ally, one honoring his word.

"I'm sorry about what I've done to you. I hurt you when I shouldn't and I should've been the one to stop our fighting. And I'm really sorry about what I did today. I really hurt you. I just struck you to make you hurt. I didn't even think that I could really actually hurt you."

It wasn't entirely his fault, Kat thought. He was informed of something scarring. He was angry and confused and sad, feeling many feeling at once. Kat began to feel a bit of shame for wanting to destroy him after what he had gone through.

"I'm sorry for what I've done."

Kat realized that he had to do something.

At this point he wriggled out of Coop's arms and walked toward the door. He turned around. The human, with some bandages on his face, simply stared sadly at the alien for a few seconds. The alien displayed a sort of nondescript expression. Something was about to happen.

"Go ahead and laugh if you want..."

The altered collar glowed a strange green upon a button press. Kat's body shook uncontrollably. Veins popped out from many places on his body. Muscles became more apparent and defined. His eyes let out a freakish glow.

"This… wha-…"

Coop recalled that very morning when Kat had transformed in the exact same manner and chased after him throughout the house like a mouse, and, eventually, pinned Coop into a near fatal grasp in the kitchen just as Millie and their father burst into the house. He watched in horror, frozen, as he had that morning as well.

As soon as the new mass seemed like it would overtake Kat's body, his frame began to grow to compensate. He dropped onto his fours from the gain of mass in his chest. His framework became accustomed to a more savage configuration. His tail deviated from its usual swirl and grew to incorporate more flow, and his ears became less acute, lowering.

Kat's slender anatomy rounded out to become more primitive. The darker purple splotches began to take up more of the square area on his body, and several more appeared, most noticeably the three on his growing forehead.

His face also reconfigured. His head became more round, and drooped. Two large saber-toothed maxillary canines grew out of his mouth, which became wider to accommodate. Slight, black lines, becoming less slight now, appeared on his mouth, making it apparent that they were his lips.

His eyes reshaped themselves, becoming less effeminate and slanted like the eyes of a household cat, and becoming more like those of one of the larger beings from a feline's ancient family tree.

Finally, it just continued to grow. Part of what was left of the carpet in his room stretched and ripped from the spreading of Kat's paws.

Kat's body shook a bit as it finally finished its de-evolution and growth, being larger than any of his more recent mutations. It's eyes lost their green glow in an electric discharge. It sat up, in a sort of high and mighty position, and simply stared at Coop.

"Why?..."

The hulking form then lumbered towards Coop on all fours, over the bed's wooden boundary and onto the mattress, the walk uncannily similar to that of a lion. It barely fit in its parameters, much less with Coop inside them. The little human crabwalked backwards in a futile attempt to create distance before hitting the bed's boundary himself.

The shape stood above Coop, its form and stare making it appear the solemn predator it really was. A feeling of dread took over the smaller being.

However, even if Kat didn't care even the slightest bit about what he had said, he didn't want to back down.

"I meant everything I said."

The behemoth then placed his superior arm on him. "This is it!" Coop thought.

It lay down in front of Coop and held him close. It held his head with the other paw, as if he were claiming him as one of its own. It then arranged its head to be above Coop's, nuzzling his forehead, almost in an adoring manner.

Confusion swept over Coops' mind. At first, he didn't understand why Kat had not crushed or mauled him. Half of his mind started to stir only when he realized neither event had occured.

Kat's devolved, titannic form should have terrified him more than anything. Although he still partially felt so, he felt... calm. It was strange, but in some way, perhaps it was because they were enemies most of the time. It was confusing -and extremely difficult- to explain.

Looking down Kat's now elephantine body from his perspective, he thought it could be some familiar mechanism or instinct that drove him to do this.

In truth, it was a comfort. His father had ignored and disbelieved him this whole time, yet Kat was now the one answering his call for help. Like family...

"I don't know what to do from here, Kat. I-… I just don't."

Coop grabbed onto Kat's embracing arm. It reacted by holding him tighter. It felt warm and comforting. Almost human, despite its mass.

Kat made a soft, non-threating coo that vibrated throughout Coop's head.

He felt protected from the lightning that boomed throughout the whole of the sky outside of the house. He felt like the worries of the world were stopped by his guardian's defenses. He still felt isolated in the world now, but he certainly didn't feel alone.

"Thank you."


	4. Someone Who Seriously Cares, Part 4

Coop awoke to the natural sunlight hitting his face, initially wincing to the light born briefly before his return to consciousness. The new, lowered height of his bed made the light enter his eyes earlier than before.

Kat was not in the bed with him.

He slowly remembered what had happened the night before. About the speech he had made, the transformation, and Kat actually listening to his troubles. He spent several minutes trying to differentiate from what had been a dream, and what really happened, not sure what was actual fact or fiction.

Before he knew it himself, he was wandering toward the doorway. He began turning the knob, but then started to seriously question what had happened. The thoughts, the time together, not destroying anything when his father and sister weren't present? It was too good to be true.

He looked back at his bed to verify what had happened.

There was indeed a large, deep indentation where Kat's large, primitive body had laid down that night.

"Guess it really did happen after all."

Coop again headed for the door, but then thought of somehow disposing of the evidence, thinking of his supposed enemy. He tried to fluff the mattress like a pillow, hoping it would regain its shape. When that failed, due to his small stature, he simply placed as many of the remaining toys he could find into the indentation to create the illusion of prepubescent unpredictability.

As he walked down the stairs, Coop stopped walking several times to think about the relationship he shared with Kat as enemies and, as he had witnessed the night before, friends. Maybe even family.

He walked down the stairs. The living room was still ruined. As he recalled, Dennis had come in when Kat had just transformed into his primitive state, and was chasing Coop around the living room. All Kat did to Dennis was grab him and toss Dennis into the air, where he had gotten stuck on the now absent ceiling fixture. Kat then resumed torturing Coop and destroying the house.

At the bottom of the stairs, he turned to his left and into the kitchen. His family had gathered today at the table, as usual. He sat down, initiating the daily ritual.

"Morning, Coop!"

"Morning!"

"Be quiet!"

"Well, good news, you two," Burt began. "Since there was damage to the roof and windows caused by the storm, our insurance company will compensate us for all of the damage that took place. This includes Coop's skirmishes with Kat."

Millie blew a raspberry at Coop, as though she thought he destroyed everything on purpose.

"You mean that there was actual damage caused by the storm?"

"Well, yes, Coop!" said Burt. "Didn't you hear all of the thunder? There was lightning striking, flooding! Were you asleep the whole time? Look at the living room!"

Burt pointed toward said room. Along with what had happened the day before, there were several new things. There were indeed some broken windows, and there was even some fire damage, somehow. But the most noticeable part of all was the hole in the roof. He wondered why he hadn't noticed all of this on the way down. More importantly, it looked more like of the doing of…

"Uh... Maybe?..."

Burt simply smacked his palm into his face and kept cooking eggs on the improvised grill, consisting of hot rocks and combusting wood. Coop tried to change the subject.

"So, Millie, how did the sleepover go?"

"No, Coop, DON-!"

"TERRIBLE! The girls were at first nice to me, but then they said I was being too 'arrogant' and 'snobby!' They even wanted me to leave, even though it was pretty much implied that it was all in honor of MY winning the pageant! They even tried taking it back, saying that it wasn't, but it was! They even tried to get an adult to make me leave!"

"Wow, that sounds-"

"-Thankfully, a tree smashed through the roof, and everyone stopped focusing on me."

"Whoa. Did anyone get hurt?"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeellll…" Mille stopped at the end of her sentence, as if to tease Coop.

"OKAY, that's enough," Burt interjected. "Coop, are you feeling any better today?"

"A little, I guess. I slept on it."

"Well, that's good. You were down the whole of yesterday after what happened in the house. If it's guilt you're feeling, you don't have to. I'm sure you'll grow out of hating Kat."

"No, that's not it…"

Thoughts began to reform in Coop's head about the news he had received the day before. He sighed sadly and placed his forehead onto the edge of the table to let himself rest a bit, even though he didn't really feel like he needed it.

_I'll tell them tonight,_ he thought to himself.

Under the table was Kat. Sleeping and looking content as always, when he wasn't torturing Coop.

Coop didn't really feel annoyed, though. He thought that maybe Kat wasn't as evil as he seemed. Maybe…

Coop extended his hand to pet Kat. Maybe things would be different now. Just maybe…

Kat hissed before he could even fully extend his arm to make contact. Next thing he knew Kat was scratching his face away in his usual way, like, well, a wild animal, of course.

Coop's head returned to the visible world above the table top in a second. Millie winced over his open scratches.

Burt turned around and looked at Coop again, wincing in a similar manner.

"On second though, you look even worse than before. Maybe you should just stay home today."

"Home? From wha- Aah! The Captain Blastroid convention!"

He had forgotten about the convention from the events of the day before. In fact, he had forgotten that the reason he began fighting with Kat yesterday was because he was trying to protect his most valued Captain Blastroid figure.

Coop quickly rushed into the bathroom, thankfully spared from everything that had happened, and quickly cleaned himself up. As he washed his face, he noticed his cuts weren't as severe as usual. He pondered this for only a moment. He brushed his teeth unrealistically fast within seconds.

He rushed down the remaining stairs, almost tripping several times, and ran for the door. He nearly screamed when he realized he hadn't gotten dressed, and went back up the stairs again to do so. He clothed himself within seconds. He checked about five times to make sure there was no sabotage.

"Aw, heck!" He ran for the door after making pseudo-sure that there was nothing wrong.

After going down the remaining stairs again, coming even closer to tripping than before, he made his way toward the door, grabbed his backpack containing his favorite figure, and bolted out the front door.

"WAIT!" He yelled at Mr. Lu's car, which had just started to move. Dennis kicked open the car door.

"Coop, hurry!"

Coop jumped into the car with Dennis, panting heavily. The car finally began moving again.

"Why do you make things so dramatic?" Mr. Lu was probably a bit unhappy about having to wait for Coop. "In fact, why do I have to be the one that takes you?"

"Because there's, uh, something wrong with Mr. Burtonburger's car. That, or he's taking Coop's sister someplace."

Sure enough, clothed in Greeny Girl uniform, Millie was rushing the Dad she shared with Coop to get ready to go somewhere.

Coop then made eye contact with Kat sitting on the windowsill of Millie's room. Kat didn't run to create some sort of gadget, or even to scheme. They just stared at each other as the car sped off.

"So, uh… Coop… you feelin' a bit better now?"

"… Huh? Oh, yeah."

"If you're still not feeling all right, you can tell me…"

"Nah, I feel better now. I did a lot of thinking about what you said last night. I'll tell them tonight."

"You sure? They might overreact."

"No. I'll make sure they see me eye to eye. I'm sure they will."

"That's pretty mature, Coop. Wow. You seem a lot happier today!"

"I guess…"

There was a short silence between the two. The awkward silence of two friends trying to find a new subject to talk about.

Dennis opened one up.

"So, uh… I kind of waited for something to happen last night… I even faked the fractured Pelvis to get an edge! I was gonna jump in and help you go up against Kat, like I usually would, but nothing happened. … Did anything happen last night, Coop?"

"Uh, no. Not really," Coop began. "It was kind of uneventful. In fact, he's probably up to something, like he usually is..." Coop figured that relating to Dennis' worries would most likely help in fooling him.

"Yeah… he's probably in some sort of glider invention right now, following us at this very moment!"

"Yeah. Look carefully, it could be cloaked!"

"Aye aye, sir!"

Dennis proceeded to look through the moon roof to watch the skies, much to the dismay of his father.

"If you're going to play "Captain Blastroid" in the car with your friend, don't disturb my driving!"

"Eep! Sorry, dad!"

Coop watched Dennis withdraw from his father, only to continue his search out the window, and laughed quietly.

Somehow, he knew Kat wasn't going to pursue him today. And even if he were, the pranks he would pull wouldn't be too severe.

Maybe to fool the denizens of his planet, he would continue to build devices to destroy something or another, and the kid might still "torture" his Cat. But there was no point in actually destroying the other.

Coop knew he shared a sort of strange bond with Kat. Maybe they wouldn't always get along. But they would always care for each other when it really mattered. They were the only ones that could understand each other in this cartoon of a world.

Coop, as he looked out at the highway recalled Kat standing on Millie's windowsill, and thought of him as a guardian, and smiled happily.


End file.
